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Alex Barré-Boulet would be a much better addition to the line-up than Christian Dvorak.
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Emil Heineman and Oliver Kapanen represent the two young Montreal Canadiens rookies who have managed to make their way into the NHL this season.

The two youngsters are doing well so far, the proof being that they were prioritized over a certain Alex Barré-Boulet, who had a good camp, but was sent to the AHL to make room for the two youngsters.

The problem is, it wasn’t ABB who deserved to get the blame.

Indeed, if Christian Dvorak wasn’t a veteran to whom we owe respect, and didn’t have a hefty NHL contract, it’s he who should have been penalized by at least being left out in the cold.

Dvorak is never bad, because he’s effective on face-offs and defensively very responsible, but he’s still a very ordinary player, especially offensively.

Right now, Dvorak is playing at the center of Emil Heineman and Oliver Kapanen, and frankly, I feel he’s hurting the two youngsters in the offensive zone.

Both rookies are generating great things and showing offensive creativity, but Dvorak seems to be slowing them down.

In short, I think Alex Barré-Boulet would energize this line much more than Dvorak.

They were excellent together during training camp.

Barré-Boulet had a solid training camp, and only had two regular-season games before being tased.

And last night, in his first game with the Laval Rocket, he showed the full extent of his offensive talent with four points, including two goals.

In short, I sincerely believe that ABB would do a much better job offensively than Dvorak with Heineman and Kapanen.

The problem is that Dvorak is hard to get rid of, barring a trade.

And that’s where some interesting news comes in.

The Calgary Flames, who are off to an incredible undefeated start to the season (4-0-0), are looking for a deep center in their age group.

Frank Seravalli recently reported that the Flames would like to solidify their middle-six with a veteran center.

Obviously, Seravalli didn’t name Dvorak, but I sincerely believe that the Habs’ #28 could be a good “match” for what the Flames are looking for.

Dvorak could fit in well with Calgary, both on the ice and in terms of salary.

The Flames have just over $18 million under the salary cap, so it’s not Dvorak’s contract ($4.45 million for one season, which is this one) that could scare them off if they’re looking to improve in the short term.

In short, there’s nothing really concrete, but if Kent Hughes wants to give his two rookies, Heineman and Kapanen, the best chance of success, he should really think about getting rid of Dvorak and bringing Barré-Boulet back to the NHL.


Overtime

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